Synology Debuts New RackStation NAS

Posted on January 15, 2014 By Pedro Hernandez

Synology, a Taiwanese provider of data storage systems, has unveiled the latest version of its RackStation network-attached storage (NAS) product for small and midsized businesses (SMBs).

The new RackStation NAS RS814+ and RS814RP+, which feature redundant power supplies, was inspired by the company's SMB-flavored desktop DiskStation line of NAS devices. In a statement, Thadd Weil, Public Relations Manager at Synology America, said the hardware "takes everything that is great about our award winning DS1813+, and thoughtfully engineers it into a 1U rack configuration."

Synology's RackStation RS814+ and RS814RP+ offer read speeds of up to 330 MB per second in Windows environments when configured for RAID. Write speed is rated at 196 MB per second. Featuring 2 GB DDR3 RAM (expandable to 4 GB), twice the memory of their predecessors, the RS812+ and RS812RP+, and a dual-core 2.13 GHz Intel Atom processor, the hardware serves up improved multitasking performance for data-intensive applications, according to the company.

The 4-bay rackmount storage systems handle up to 16 TB of storage. In total, the devices can scale to 32 TB with the addition of Synology RX410 expansion units. Network connectivity is provided by four GbE ports. The RS814+ and RS814RP+ also feature three USB 3.0 ports and an eSATA connector for additional storage expandability.

All told, the RS814+ and RS814RP+ meet "the needs of small and medium-sized business that requires an efficient way to centralize data protection, simplify data management, and rapidly scale storage capacity with minimal time spent on setup and management," claims the company.

Weil suggested that when his company launches the next big DSM update, the new hardware will be able to leverage its enhancements.

"The RS814(RP)+ is already a tremendous value. With DSM 5.0 rolling out later this year with its rich array of business specific features, it will become even better," said Weil.

Synology expects to begin shipping both the RS814+ and RS814RP+ within "the next couple of weeks," according to the company.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at InfoStor. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.